We’re happy to announce that Justin Reese is joining the DocumentCloud development team. Hailing (and working remotely) from Tyler, Texas, Justin will focus on building the next generation of our platform’s front-end components, from the document workspace to embeds to the overall site experience.

Justin comes to DocumentCloud after spending years translating complicated business requirements into simple, usable web apps for companies such as Essilor Labs and Bon-Ton. We’re excited to have Justin as a collaborator. His work shows a thoughtful consideration of users and attention to detail, and as a contributor to projects such as Hack Tyler he shares DocumentCloud’s eagerness to create software that serves the public good. Justin’s artistry extends beyond software: he also makes short films and tolerable Neapolitan-style pizza (which we expect to taste asap).

The addition of Justin is part of our current funding from the Knight Foundation, a grant intended to expand and improve the platform. Our goal is to make DocumentCloud the best document reporting, research and publishing platform for journalists and those who work with public documents and to also ensure the long-term sustainability of the platform. In addition, we’re eager to continue DocumentCloud’s legacy of making elements of the platform available as open-source components, such as our recent release of PDFShaver. Justin will play a key role in helping us make that happen.